First
by Traveler07
Summary: A short story about Cal in high school experiencing a first. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

Hey people! I am back with another pointless oneshot! This one is from Cal's point of view when he was 14 in his first year of high school before he got taken. It is just a little thing about some very special firsts for Cal. Rated T for Language.

I thought the idea was kind of cute, so I just went with it :)

I hope you guys enjoy it! Let me know what you think! Oh yeah, and **READ THE NOTE AT THE END**. Thanks :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Cal Leandros series, it is property of Rob Thurman

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First:

I sat with my arms folded across my chest slouched so far down in my chair my ass would fall off if I scooted any further. Math class was boring as hell and I was surrounded by idiots. Seriously, we were freshman in high school. Who the hell didn't know how to do algebra?

I sighed and glanced at the clock once again. I swear that thing was broken because it didn't seem to have moved at all since the last time I had checked it.

I let it be and turned my attention to more… prudent things. "Prudent things" happened to sit two rows ahead of me and one seat to the left. All I could see from this angle was a sliver of a profile and a mass of dark brown shiny hair. It was beautiful hair, just like the rest of her. I scowled at my train of thoughts and tried in vain to refocus on the teacher.

I needed to quit obsessing about her it was turning me into a goddamn girl. So what if she was pretty? There were tons of pretty girls in the world. She was nothing special. Besides, I thought soberly, she would never even consider me. Sometimes she smiled at me in the halls but that didn't mean shit. No one in there right mind would talk to me here, even if they did like me. I was a social pariah, a piece of trash, a dirt poor, dumb as rocks, son of a whore. At least that's what they all said about me. And if anyone ever talked to me I'm sure they'd be considered the same. Sure, some chicks thought it was fun to "slum it" once and a while but even they had standards. And I was nowhere near the standard.

I played with my pencil, rolling it between my fingers and wondered for the millionth time how I had let Nik convince me to do this whole high school thing. Why couldn't I just home school myself? He wasn't around to do it, he was at college and only came back on weekends, but honestly it couldn't be that hard.

"Caliban." I glanced up at the sound of my name spoken out of the thin pressed lips of Miss Johnson, our algebra teacher.

"Why don't you try your best to answer this problem." She said in a nasal tone. I didn't think it was humanly (or nonhumanly as a matter or fact) possible for her to put any more condescension in her tone.

I glanced up at her and then at the problem on the board. The answer was 27.

"43?" I said dryly. Her thin lips contorted into a smile at my error.

"How was it they ever let you into high school Caliban?" She said shaking her head. The class laughed, because she was just so goddamn funny. Fucking hilarious. I didn't give a shit though. If she wanted me to be the class idiot trailer trash than I would be, because I could not care less what these people thought of me.

"Tessa?" She said turning her lipless smile to the girl with the beautiful brown hair.

"27" She said quietly, almost apologetically.

"Thank you Tessa. Good to know someone around here has two brain cells to rub together." There were chuckles throughout the class again. Boy was that teacher sure a riot, I glared bitterly at her back covered in a smelly lumpy old sweater. I hate high school.

Suddenly Tessa turned around in her chair and her eyes met mine. They were a rich brown and framed in lashes a shade darker than her hair. She gave me a kind of half smile and an apologetic tilt of her head before turning back around.

I felt heat in my face and I knew I was blushing. Another unfortunate side effect of Grendel skin, blushes shine right the hell through. I stared down at my desk again. I was fourteen years old damn it, I should not be blushing like a girl.

Unfortunately the blush stuck around for the rest of class. I picked up my stuff and saw that asshole Eric coming up behind me. He was going to try and push my books on the floor. I usually let him mess with me, but today I was not in a good mood. I discreetly hid my wicked smile and turned slightly and stuck my foot out. As he walked by to push my shit on the floor he tripped over my foot and went down. All the way down. Do not laugh. Do not laugh. Do not laugh. Do. Not. Laugh.

All the sudden giggles filled the room.

I glanced up surprised to see that Eric and I weren't the only two in the room. Tessa was still there packing up her stuff and giggling to herself as Eric scrambled for his stuff and then quickly ducked out of the door. Poor bastard, I thought vindictively and without an ounce of compassion.

"Good for you Caliban. It's about time someone did that." I met her gaze and gave her a sheepish smile. I could feel the blush working its way across my face again. Alright Cal, I gave myself a quick little pep talk, this is your one chance to talk to this girl. Don't blow it. Say something funny… something clever.

"Uh yeah thanks." Crash and burn. Down in flames. Well…. That was that.

She walked over and picked my pencil up off the ground. Huh, I hadn't even noticed it fell. Tessa's small hand brushed mine as she put the pencil in my fist.

"See you tomorrow Caliban." She said with a smile before giving me a little wave and disappearing through the door.

That was weird.

****

The next day I was oddly excited to get to algebra (a sure sign of the apocalypse) and I tried the whole day to talk myself down. No girl had even been interested in me before and this one wasn't interested in me now. She just wasn't a total bitch, that was all. I didn't need to take one nice act and blow it way the hell out of proportion. There was a snowball's chance in hell that she liked me.

By the time I got to class I had convinced myself that she was being nice to me based on some sociology project or dare and there was nothing else to it. If only I could convince the rest of me of that.

I blushed as I walked by her again and she gave me a dazzling smile. She had pretty straight white teeth and full lips. And those thoughts _really _were not helping with the whole blushing thing.

I walked back to my usual spot in the back row in the corner (classic bad boy spot, I had a reputation to maintain). To my surprise she got up and followed me to my desk.

She kept coming until she was really close to me. Like, count your freckles close, "I'm going to hug you" close… kissing close. I blushed darker at the thought. Goddamn I really needed to get this whole blush thing under fucking control, this was getting ridiculous. Fucking traitor face. I inhaled and caught her scent, lilacs and butterscotch. And odd mix but it worked together really well, perfectly in fact, on her.

She leaned forward and stood slightly on her tip toes (she was a couple inches shorter than me) and whispered in my ear.

"Meet me after class?" Her breath was warm and smelled as good as the rest of her.

"Yeah, okay." I said quietly feeling vaguely like I was high. What the hell was wrong with me? Caliban Leandros did not do crushes. Her cheek brushed lightly against mine as she leaned away. I swallowed quietly… or so went the theory.

Following that moment commenced the longest class period in the history of ever. Seriously, I'm pretty sure it went on for several hours. All of which I spent staring in shock at the back of Tessa's pretty dark hair. I was so shocked that I actually answered a question correctly on accident and Miss Johnson almost fainted. Not a joke.

The bell rang and I didn't know what to do. Should I hand around here? Did she mean meet her after class in class or out of class? Or maybe she meant later all together. I mean, technically there was an eternity of time in which we could meet after class. Oh God, I hoped desperately I could keep the inane babbling inside my head.

The class emptied (waaaay slower than usual I might add) and soon it was just me and her. I took a deep breath. Come on, man up Cal.

"Um hey, you wanted to talk to me right? You want to talk here or go somewhere else? Or, I mean, if you changed your mind that's fine too. I uh…" Shit, now I was babbling and blushing. Smooth Cal, smooth as fucking ice.

She giggled at me and walked over, the perfect picture of confidence. Though I suppose she didn't have anything to be worried about. After all, I was just me, but she was… she was Tessa. You know?

She walked over and slipped her hand in mine. Luckily my hand was dry and warm, the last thing I needed was a sweaty palm. She glanced down at our fingers for a second before stepping even closer and popping my space bubble in a major way. In a _good_ major way… but still.

"Want to go on a date with me?" Um, was that a rhetorical question? I stared at her in shock as she raised her chocolate eyes to my gray ones. She looked at me intently, I wondered for a moment what she saw there.

"You want to go on a date with me?" I responded with a question. Because seriously, any minute someone was going to pop out and reveal I was on a hidden camera TV show called "Most Ridiculous Match Ups" or something and some douche bag like Ashton Kutcher was going to run in here in laugh in my face.

"Of course or I wouldn't have asked." She giggled again and rolled her eyes at me. But seriously what did she expect? This was so out of the blue.

"Meet me by the lake, where the forest meets the rocky area you know? It's within walking distance of your house right?" I gave her props for not stumbling over the word "house" because our trailer was most certainly not a house.

"Yeah, okay. I'll meet you at sunset." The words came out before I could stop them. Meet me at sunset? What was this a fucking romance novel?

"Yeah okay." She echoed me, coyly swinging our hands together. She squeezed my fingers lightly once more before letting them drop.

"I'll see you tonight." She said with a smile before once again disappearing through the door.

I was blushing bright red again, but I was also smiling. I can't believe I had a date. I had never been on a date before in my whole life. I couldn't wait to tell Nik when he got home tomorrow. He would be happy for me, and really fucking shocked. I flexed my fingers and felt my smile widen. I couldn't wait for tonight. As much as it embarrassed me to admit it, I was so happy that someone wanted me. No one had ever wanted me before. I would make sure she wouldn't regret it. I nodded my head with determination. I was going to make this the best date ever.

*****

This was going to be the worst date ever.

I am such an idiot.

I stood nervously on the rocks waiting for my date to arrive. And I was a half hour early. A little over eager there? Seriously, way to blow my nonexistent cool. Yeah, I was a bad ass alright. A punctual flower carrying bad ass in nice clothes. I had my clean jeans on and an old button up shirt of Nik's. I was looking damn spiffy. I still couldn't believe I actually thought about what I was going to wear. Did liking a girl turn you girly?

I fiddled with the flower stem nervously in my hand. It was a red rose, totally cliché and not even the best looking or smelling flower out there but it was supposed to be romantic and all that jazz. I had cut my finger a little earlier when I picked it out, and then promptly prayed to the sterile heavens that it wasn't foreshadowing. After all, we were just meeting up and talking. What could go wrong?

Yeah, famous last words.

I realized I was pacing and then cut it out. Nobody liked a nervous date. I should look confident. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.

I sat down on the rocks and watched the sun slowly sinking in the sky.

****

I was in exactly the same position an hour later. The sun had set and the sky had turned from the vibrant colors of the sunset on the water to the gray of passing light and then finally to the black of night. Clouds had rolled in and the moon wasn't visible, just the little pin prick lights of the stars. Alone in a great emptiness.

Kinda like me.

She wasn't here. She hadn't showed, and I was still sitting here. Why the hell was I still sitting here? I glanced down at the rose in my hand, I had plucked off all of the thorns with my fiddling and the stem was now bare. What a waste.

I was such an idiot. Did I really think that a girl like her would like something like me? I wasn't a real boy, so why in the world did I keep thinking the world might treat me that way. You would think a kid could learn. I was like that idiot dog that kept trying to cross his electric fence and was surprised when he got shocked every time. Every goddamn time.

I sighed and pulled myself together. I needed to quit feeling sorry for myself and just accept it.

I let the rose fall onto the rocks and stood quickly. It was time to leave and give up the ghost. She wasn't going to come, and it was foolish of me to ever believe she was. I should know better by now.

I smelt them before I heard them. I turned cautiously to see a few boys from my class approaching from the distance. What the hell?

I could smell Eric's foul stench and three other boys whose names I didn't know and didn't care to. They reached the end of the grass and began to clamor gracelessly across the rocks. I debated leaving. What could they want?

"Holy shit. He's actually still here?" I heard one of the voices call out incredulously. The other three laughed.

"She's not going to show you idiot, most people would have gotten that by now." Eric taunted as he slipped on a rock and caught himself on his hands before stabilizing again. Too bad, it would be great if he broke his own nose and saved me the trouble.

"Where's your date trailer boy?" The fat one on the left yelled from the back. He was slower than the others who were only a few feet away from me now.

"I don't know. Where's yours? Did you eat her?" I called back to baby Beluga.

"Shut your face!" He shouted back still a considerable distance away.

I should leave. I knew that I should leave. Could I take these asshats? Of course, not a doubt in my mind. But Niko and I had a long talk about fighting once. The summary was never do it. Never fight if you can avoid it. Always back away, always leave unless there is no other way.

We couldn't afford to let my monsters genes get out of control. It was like drinking if you were an alcoholic. Just tempting the devil. Just playing with fire.

Then again I had always been a bit of a pyro.

"Listen." I said to Eric, who was standing closest to me. "Let me give you some friendly advice. First of all, get some acne cream because that shit is disgusting. Second, showers are good things. And thirdly, even getting asked on a date is one step ahead of you so why don't you quit looking down your nose at people for a second and turn your attention to your own shitty situation."

His genius come back was to throw a punch at my face. There was a lot of power behind it, but unfortunately for him he couldn't beat a sloth in a foot race.

I dodged out of the way of his hand and punched him in the gut. And maybe I was a little bit too satisfied when the air whooshed loudly out of his lunges. He coughed…. Nah I'm exactly the right amount of satisfied.

"It was a dare you dumb ass. Did you really think she ever considered going out with trailer trash like you?" Short (not like I had room to talk) and ugly on his left spit as he yelled.

"Did you actually dress up?" The ginger on the right laughed. "Nice shirt, did you steal it off a homeless person?" Beluga yelled through his panting.

God, I was such an idiot. Even more so than I thought before. Of course it was a bet, of course it was a dare. Why the hell would a girl like Tessa ever go out with a punk like me. The answer was no reason, not even a goddamn dare because she hadn't even showed up to watch me get humiliated. It wasn't even worth it.

I wondered if they all laughed about it. I wondered if they chuckled at how I blushed and stuttered and actually believed that someone was interested in me. I laughed loudly but it wasn't funny it was just sad. I was just pathetic. And really, all these years of detecting bullshit and I let some pretty girl lie right to my face without noticing. I was such a piece of shit, but worse I was a stupid piece of shit.

Eric swung at me again and this time I didn't move. I felt the crunch of his fist connecting with my face and I fell all the way down. I didn't even put my hands out. I just… didn't feel like it. What was the point? Maybe I was pathetic and stupid but I wasn't going to be a monster. I was going to try not to be anyways.

So as the fists and feet kept falling on me I just lie there like a good little monster. Like a well behaved demon. I couldn't hear their jeers or the sound of their blows. I just concentrated on Nik's voice:

_"Don't fight Cal. You can't ever fight." His grey eyes bore seriously into mine as he judged my reaction. I met his eyes without an ounce of doubt in mine, without a hint of the usual mocking and sarcasm._

_"I won't. I promise."_

I kept my promise.

They left eventually, after a long while. But I was there for a long, long time even after. I lie there until the sky began to bleed gray with pre-dawn light. Then I finally dragged my sorry ass home.

I left the flower there, crushed between the rocks. Its red color had rubbed off onto the surrounding rocks like blood. I spit some of the red out of my own mouth to dye the rocks just like my rose.

I got home and carefully put my dirty clothes in the hamper and washed my face before crawling into my bed to rest for a few hours before school. Oddly I wasn't thinking of Tessa or Eric or any of them. All I was thinking was that I should have known better. And that, at least, Niko would be proud.

****

I trudged through the hallways with my head down and tried to ignore the amount of faces turned my way. I looked like I had gotten the shit beaten out of me, and that I had. But I came to school anyways, because even though I let them beat me up I wouldn't let them win. I wouldn't give in, I would let them hurt me but never beat me. Bowed but not broken.

Or so went the theory.

I pulled open my locker and dozens of red roses fell out onto the floor. I didn't react. I just kicked them out of the way and pulled what I needed out of my locker. It would take a lot more than humiliation and shame to knock me down, after all, I'd been dealing with those emotions all my life. I was in control of them, not the other way around.

I walked over them to get to class crushing their petals against the cheap tile floor. I didn't look but I knew I was leaving a trail of red foot prints all the way to class.

I didn't let them get to me all day. I let their comments and dirty looks and laughter roll right off my back like the proverbial duck. High school sucks. I already said that, but it bears repeating.

Classes rolled by quickly and soon I was out the door and home. Well, that was the original plan. I was distracted by a soft noise from the alley by school.

I smelled Tessa and Eric.

I wasn't going to look. I wasn't. But I felt my feet taking me that direction anyways. I was beginning to consider that I had a serious issue with masochism. Huh, well it would have to take a spot in line with all my other really serious issues.

I rounded the corner to see them both standing in the alley whispering angrily at each other.

"We shouldn't have done it Eric. You took it too far. You hit him? I can't believe it, did you see his face?" She regretted it. Well, maybe she wasn't terrible after all. It said something, that she admitted it shouldn't have happened, not enough, not nearly enough… but it did say something nonetheless.

My hand rested on my cheek almost of its own accord. I had caught a glimpse of my face in the mirror before I came to school. It was pretty terrible. The black and blue bruises stood out in stark contrast to my Grendel pale skin.

"Listen here bitch-" He was abruptly cut off by Tessa's palm making friends with his face. I couldn't help but smile at the satisfying skin hitting skin sound that is made. Ah, good old fashion karma. I absolutely loved it when that bitch focused its attentions on someone else for a change.

Okay, let's get something straight here: Eric is an idiot. Eric is an asshole. Eric never fails to stoop below even the lowest expectations. So why in the world was I still shocked when he shoved her against the wall? I could not tell you. What I could tell you was how, seemingly without my consent, my feet propelled me in his direction, and how it was effortless for me to jerk him away from her and how I hardly even noticed the pain in my knuckles as they connected with the bridge of his nose.

What I did notice was the satisfying sound that it made when his nose snapped and blood, red as a rose seeped out through his nostrils. I could also tell you how much I enjoyed the following kick to the gut that sent him to the ground and the smack of his skull as it met the concrete. I stood over him and didn't say a word. I just glared with a self satisfied smirk on my face.

I had been dying for a reason to hit this bastard, and even though this wasn't the reason I wanted I didn't feel guilty at all for taking advantage of it.

I shook my head and forced the dark thoughts from my head and pushed the pleasure I got from fighting back until I could deny that I ever really felt it.

As Eric crawled up and ran away I remembered why I wasn't allowed to fight. I remembered why Niko told me I could never instigate anything unless absolutely necessary. It felt too good, it satisfied my monster nature in a way that made it want to come out and play, and no stupid high school bully was worth that. So I took a deep breath and cleared my mind until the violence backed down from a boil to the dull simmer it usually stayed at.

Good enough.

I turned to glance at Tessa who stood against the wall staring at me with a strange emotion in her eyes. It looked like she was trying to figure me out. Well, good luck with that.

I turned on my heel totally prepared to walk away and never speak of this incident again… unfortunately it didn't happen that way.

"Wait." Reluctantly I stopped my feet but I didn't turn around. It was too hard to look at her. The rejection, humiliation, and self mocking hate clenched at my insides. Damn, I was stronger than this. I could beat these emotions.

"What." I said levelly without any inflection or emotion. Huh, maybe I picked up more from Niko than just being a bad ass ninja.

"Why didn't you beat them up before? He didn't- you didn't- they-" She floundered for a moment before getting her train of thought back. "It didn't even look like you were trying with him, you should have beaten those guys… or at least hurt them, I didn't see a scratch on any one of them." Her voice was incredulous but behind that there was a respect I didn't deserve. Like she thought that I was some righteous moralistic hero. But that wasn't me, I had an older brother for that.

"Maybe there's a lot you don't know about me." There was no anger in my tone, hell I didn't even feel any. It was said again with no inflection, no passion. I didn't say it to hurt her, I said it because it was the truth. Her and everyone else besides my brother didn't know shit about me. But she was even more clueless than the rest of them if she thought I deserved any of her respect. I didn't, I was a monster through and through. I glanced down at my pallid skin and reminded myself for the millionth time why.

I started walking again then. I wasn't so emotionless that it didn't hurt to look at her. I hated to admit it. I hated to admit that in a moment of weakness I had had hope, and I had let her in, but I had done it and now I was paying the price.

But I wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Then I heard another small noise from her and turned around before I could even think about the action. She was slumped against the wall and sitting on the cold ground, but worst of all she was crying.

Ah, shit.

I felt guilt and self recrimination flow into me like water into a cracked boat. I was a first class asshole.

I stood awkwardly for a moment trying to decide what to do. Do I go to her or do I stay? Slowly I walked over to her and crouched down in front of her. I didn't know what to do or say to make it better. I hated it when girls cried, I just never knew what the hell to do with myself.

"Don't cry." I said softly, in the most comforting voice I could, but she just cried harder. Shit, I was entering panic mode here. I had almost no experience with crying girls. What the hell was I supposed to say? Why was she crying anyways? Did she feel guilty? Well, if so I should fix that. She had nothing to feel guilty over.

"Don't cry." I said again my voice now slightly rougher. "I'm not worth it." Her crying stopped immediately and she tilted her chin up to stare right at me.

Tessa's face was now uncomfortably close to mine, I got distracted by the way her wet eyelashes clumped together and how impossibly big her watery eyes looked in her delicate face.

"Don't say that. Don't even think it." Before I had a chance to respond, not that it would have been a good response, she leaned forward and her nose brushed mine. I was no Cyrano like my brother so this meant that she was pretty damn close to my face (with Nik you might accidently brush your nose against his from the other side of the room, it was that damn big). Oh god, I was rambling nervously in my head again.

And then abruptly all rambling stopped in the face of complete and utter shock.

Tessa pressed her lips to mine. They were soft and smelled vaguely of cherry chap stick. Her hand came up to gently touch my face and it was soft and warm just like her lips.

My eyes closed automatically as she rubbed her lips gently against mine before her lips opened slightly and mine followed suit. Her breath was warm and sweet and the kiss became deeper but continued on without any urgency.

It was warm and soft and perfect. And then she pulled away. I opened my eyes and leaned my face into her warm palm as she ran her hand across my cheek and through my hair before pulling away.

"Goodbye Caliban." She said gently and quietly, like our kiss.

And then she was gone. She stood and walked out of the alley and I fell back onto my ass and stared off into space for a moment thinking about nothing but that kiss.

I thought it was perfect but I had nothing to compare it to.

My fingers came up to gently brush my lips as I felt a smile tug at the corners.

It was my first.

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Yeah, I can be quite the cheese ball sometimes. Let me know what you guys think of it. Also:

**_I am thinking about writing a follow up chapter to this from Niko's point of view when he sees Cal after he gets back from college. Thoughts? I'll do it if you people are interested, but if not that's cool too. _**

Hope you guys enjoyed it!

-Traveler


	2. Niko

**Hey folks! Several of you seemed interested in the sequel in Nik's point of view. I hope this doesn't disappoint! Just as a heads up I have some free time and can't seem to stop the story ideas from worming their way into my head despite my valiant effort, so be on the lookout for a few more stories from me coming out soon. I think it's the fact that the Roadkill release date is approaching. I can't wait!**

**I hope you guys enjoy this! Let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Cal Leandros series, it is property of Rob Thurman.**

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Niko POV

I felt my anticipation grow as I drove down the long dirt road that led to our trailer, to our home. But not for long. I smiled at the thought. By the end of the year I'd have Cal out of here and away from Sophia. It would be hard and he might have to find work in addition to school, but we could do it, despite the outrageous sum that Sophia was charging me to take away a child she didn't want. I didn't mind though, part of me wanted to make sure she would at least survive. I hated her, but we had lived with her for years and I couldn't help but have a microscopic bit of reluctant sympathy for her, after all, who knew what her childhood had been like?

I pushed the unwelcome thoughts from my mind and let the hum of the engine fill my head with white noise for a moment and relax. Well, maybe it was more of a roar than a hum. I remembered the first time that I brought it home, more specifically Cal's reaction.

"_Please tell me your joking." Cal said his tone filled with something akin to horror. He stared at the ancient truck disbelievingly. _

"_Afraid not. What are you complaining about? At least it's a car and it has… character." I said patting the rusted hood and trying not to cringe when I thought of how the breaks squeaked and stuck and how one of the doors was definitely not part of the original model… back when it was made, way back… way, way back. _

_Cal snorted._

"_Yeah, age and a disgusting exterior do not equal character, just ask that old bastard Mr. Thompson." I remembered that Mr. Thompson was his English teacher. I sighed and resisted the urge to roll my eyes at his dramatics._

"_You only think that because he failed you on your 'what I did this summer' paper." I pointed out. Cal scowled and crossed his arms over his chest._

"_How was I know that using the words 'fucking bitch' when describing your mother was inappropriate? He never set guidelines, he just said 'be honest about your summer'. What a bastard, failing me for honesty." Cal grumbled as he moved closer to inspect the ancient car. He kicked the tire and the whole frame rocked. _

"_Damn Nik, tell me that they paid you to take this off their hands and not the other way around." He said dryly glancing up at me._

I felt my smile grow at the memory and the fact that I had turned the last corner and could see the trailer in the distance. My anticipation grew as I thought about seeing my sarcastic little brother again. I had truly missed him during the week.

The car groaned and squealed as I pulled up next to the trailer and I felt the car rock as I stepped out and the frame shook. It was amazing that this thing stayed together at all. It was a rolling (barely) death trap on wheels. Though I supposed it wouldn't be too bad if it did fall apart while I was driving, it was so slow that I was pretty sure that I had gotten passed by a guy on a bicycle on the way here.

"Nik!" I heard Cal yell in the distance. I squinted against the sun and saw his form as a black smudge against the bright setting sun. I raised my hand and waved as he began to jog over, too excited to walk. It meant a lot that he wasn't afraid to be happy in front of me, that he could let his armor fall down. It sounded strange, but it was true. Cal had built walls around him like steel and he never showed true emotion… unless of course that emotion happened to be annoyance, then he displayed it loud and proud with a certain special finger pointed at the world. That was my brother alright.

He slowed as he approached and his features became visible as his figure evolved from a black smudge on the horizon to a grinning boy.

For a moment all I could see was the smile on his face and the genuine happiness in his eyes. It was so rare that I ever got to see his happiness on display that I was taken aback by the way it shone through him. Then the rest of him came into focus, and the light feeling in my heart moved lower and became a heavy feeling in my gut.

"I am so glad your back. I have so much shit to tell you." Cal panted lightly as he grinned up at me. I felt confusion flash through the tumultuous emotions roiling inside my head as I tried to make sense of the juxtaposition of his happy face and the dark bruises that covered it.

"I think your first story should be about what happened to your face." I said in a toneless, emotionless voice that by now Cal knew meant trouble. I felt my own confusion mirrored in Cal's expression for a second and he started to lift his hand to his face when suddenly comprehension and then guilt swam through his mobile features.

"Oh, uh yeah." He said hesitantly as his eyes dropped from mine. He fell into uncustomary silence.

"Somehow your less that impressive vocal skills have left me once again bereft. Why don't we try this again? Hello Niko, my name is Cal and this is how I got these marks on my face…" I let the Cal-sounding sentence trail off and motioned for him to complete it.

"Damn Nik, try and dumb it down to regular people level would you? Who the hell says 'bereft'?" Cal snarked, trying to distract me by pulling me into our usual give and take sarcasm. It didn't work. I stared at him stoically and remained silent. We were going to talk about this, and we were going to talk about it now.

He sighed and turned his gaze heavenward before dropping his eyes back down to mine.

"Hello Niko, my name is Cal and this is how I got these marks on my face-" He started sarcastically before his face became slightly sheepish and he continued on. "I got in a fight with a couple guys out by the lake." He said shortly.

I raised my eyebrow at him waiting for him to go on and explain. He stood there silently for a moment before scuffing the ground with his feet.

"Okay, great talk. Anyways, now that that's over-"

"Don't." I said shortly, not in the mood for this. Someone had marked my brother's face and they better have a damn good reason or I would do more than bruise them… even if they did have a good reason I probably still would. My brother had enough to deal with, the last thing he needed was some punk fighting with him.

Cal sobered as he realized that he wasn't going to get away with anything short of a full explanation of what had happened to him.

"Right…" He said reluctantly and rubbed a hand over his black and blue face. "Well, there is this girl at school-"

"Cal, tell me that you were not fighting to impress a girl." I said letting anger seep into my tone this time. The indignation that filled his face let me know that I was way off the mark. I thought so but I had to be sure, if he was willing to tempt his Grendel side with fighting because of a girl we would have had to have a long and painful, painful for him at least, discussion about priorities.

"No Cyrano, you taught me better than that." Cal glared at me because of the injustice to his character for a moment before continuing his story. I vowed not to jump to conclusions and interrupt this time. He was my brother, and I had faith that whatever he did he had a good reason for. Well, at least _a_ reason.

"There was this girl-" He started again and paused for a second as if waiting for an interruption. "and she asked me on a date. We were going to meet by the lake on the rocks at sunset." He blushed and I could see the humiliation plain on his face as his eyes once again dropped from mine to stare at our shoes.

"But she, uh, she didn't show up. Turns out she got dared to ask me out and leave me hanging. I guess some of the guys at school thought it would be funny, or some shit like that." I felt my gut twist as anger filled me at the thought that someone had given him hope and then humiliated him, played with him.

I briefly weighed the pros and cons of punching a fourteen year old girl and then decided spiders in her locker would be a better idea. I forced back my vengeful thoughts and refocused on the story he was telling me. I would be better able to plot appropriate punishment after I had heard the whole story. Because there would be punishment for those who had done this to him, I couldn't accept anything else.

"I waited there for a while, until it got dark." My heart clenched briefly at the thought of Cal sitting alone waiting for a girl who would never come.

Bitch.

"Then a couple of guys from school showed up." He continued, his grey eyes were distant with the memory.

"How many?" I quickly interrupted breaking my earlier promise to myself.

"Just four." He answered just as quickly.

Four on one, not an even fight by any standards, at least not if it was Cal against four average high school boys. Cal should have kicked all their asses to kingdom come without so much as a split lip. So what had happened? Either these boys had also had years of martial arts training and drill sergeants in their families or there was a missing element in this story.

"They all came at me and I hit the first one who came after me." His eyes met mine briefly before returning to the apparently fascinating ground under his worn and ripped sneakers. In that brief moment I had seen grey eyes that matched mine filled with misplaced guilt. At least so far it seemed misplaced, and I had a good idea where this story was heading.

"But then I remembered what you said about fighting and I knew you wouldn't have wanted me to risk it so I just kind of let them go at it until they got bored and left." Ah there it was, the missing piece. I felt guilt tug at me again. I needed to clarify that before it got him hurt... anymore than it already had at least. I managed to keep myself from flinching at the thought. He paused here for a moment and tilted his head and seemed to be debating something.

"Then at school I saw Eric messing with Tessa and I may have hit him again." He said hurriedly, as if saying the words all in a rush would dull the meaning in them. So his name was Eric? I would remember that, I thought darkly.

"You defended her?" I asked, proud, despite my anger, that he was better than all those high school fools. How many humiliated fourteen year old boys would stick up for the girl who stood them up and then sent her group of delinquent brats to beat them up? Not many… not any as far as I knew. Cal was a good kid, better than most who had no monster genes at all. The irony of this was not lost on me, though part of me wished it was. He was too busy trying not to be bad to realize that he was actually good. If only I could convince him of this, but unfortunately stubbornness ran in the family, or at least in both of us.

"Yeah." Cal said sounding relieved at the pride that had entered my voice. "Then she kissed me." He said quietly, blushing. I smiled at that. So that was why he was so happy today. Cal, my little brother, had his first kiss.

I would deal with that later, I had more prudent matters to discuss with him at the moment. The first of which was to set him straight about my no fighting rule. It made me feel sick that he had let himself get beaten up because of what he thought I meant. I couldn't allow that to happen again.

"Cal, when I said no fighting I didn't mean you couldn't defend yourself. If you're in trouble-" He cut me off here looking indignant again.

"I wasn't in trouble. It was just four human guys, no sweat."

"If you are in trouble-" I continued as though he hadn't interrupted. "you can fight back, I want you to fight back."

I reached down and gripped his chin lightly and forced his gaze to mine. I felt something unpleasant stir inside me as I caught sight of the bruises again. I hated to see my brother marked. The bruises looked especially painful against the backdrop of his pale, almost translucent, skin. I loosened my grip further, just in case my grip on his chin was irritating any of the bruises. I couldn't stand to see any more marks on his face, I couldn't stand the ones that were there now.

"When I said that, I meant that you shouldn't start fights unnecessarily, not that you shouldn't fight back when someone comes after you. I am sorry that my words ever caused you to think that." Guilt twisted in my gut along with the other unpleasant emotions. I hated to think that I had caused him any pain, even inadvertently. Everything I did was to protect him, not to protect others _from_ him. The world didn't need protecting from him, rather he needed protecting from it. I just wish he could see that as clearly as I could.

"I didn't want you to be disappointed." He said shifting his gaze off to something behind me, feeling uncomfortable with the emotion that seeped into those words.

"I could never be. Don't even think it." I said harshly as I pinned him with my gaze forcing him to meet my eyes. The vulnerability there squeezed my heart further. Cal nodded shortly and I let my fingers drop from his chin so my hands, clenched with guilt and anger, wouldn't hurt his face any further.

We stood silently for a moment before the sound of something shattering interrupted the quiet. I sighed.

"Glad to see that Sophia is still making sure we don't have an excess of dishware." Cal, relieved to be done with the emotional talk, took my thread and ran with it.

"Yeah, you know her. Hates to have anything cluttering those cabinets. Well, anything that isn't above eighty proof anyways. He said slyly.

I walked over to the truck and pulled my backpack out of the window and slung it over one shoulder.

"Let's bring my stuff inside and then go for a walk. I am sure she is just dying to see me."

"Yeah, you know how hard it is when your first baby bird leaves the nest." He smirked before tugging at my backpack.

"Got a lot of work?" He asked glancing at the bulging zipper and worn straps.

"Yes, but nothing that requires an IQ in the double digits. So maybe you can help." I said dryly nudging him with my shoulder.

"Ass." He said aiming an elbow at my ribs. Not being one to pass up an opportunity for a lesson I caught his elbow easily, twisted him, and aimed a light punch at his back. I was surprised when he arched away from the blow and hissed as if stung. I hadn't hit him that hard.

"Cal what-?"

Oh, the bruises. I felt the anger that I had momentarily forgot surge again. Of course there was damage to more than his face. Of course.

"Show me." I said in a tight voice, gripping his shoulders gently and turning him to face me. He looked up at me reluctantly.

"Come on Nik." He groaned.

"Take off your shirt." I said quickly again, not in the mood for his stalling. Cal took one look at my face, which I hadn't been bothering to keep the anger out of, and then grumbled darkly under his breath before pulling his shirt over his head. My anger flared again.

I would find those boys and I would repay them mark for mark and then give them a few new ones.

The ropy muscles of his chest and back were covered with bruises varying in color from a light yellowish-green to a deep purple and even black. His back was covered with small cuts and scratches from, I assumed, the rocks that he must have fallen on. This was unacceptable.

The anger built in me and tensed my muscles with the urge to fight, the urge to hurt whatever had done this to my little brother. They would pay, there was no way I would let them get away with this, I seethed. The urge for vengeance was so strong it was almost a palpable thing, almost a taste on my tongue.

"Tell me all their names." I said authoritatively although I knew he would argue, I recalled that one of their names was Eric. He pulled his shirt back down over the marks and winced lightly as the movement tugged at his tight and bruised skin.

"Nik, don't worry about it. I took care of Eric, who started it, and the others don't matter. I don't know their names anyways." Cal said his tone just as challenging as mine. He wasn't going to back down easily. That was okay, I had time. We stared each other down before I got another idea. I carefully schooled my expression so it wouldn't show and then sighed.

"Fine." I said as I walked over to the trailer and threw my backpack through the door and shut it quickly before Sophia could come and… greet me.

"Fine?" Cal said, sounding unsure and surprised. I didn't blame him.

"But at least describe them to me as we walk so I can imagine hurting them more effectively." Cal's shoulders relaxed as I let the conversation go.

"Overprotective brothers, there's no appeasing them." He said with a tone filled with an affection that betrayed his words.

"And I'll describe them to you if you want but let me tell you these were some ugly assholes. Just picture your average bad skinned smelly shit head teenager and that's about it."

"So you're telling me they looked like you but with acne?" I snorted "Well, that's unfortunate for them." He sent a glare my way and kicked gravel on my shoes as we walked down the dirt road to the forest.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I am one handsome son of a bitch and you know it. I may be a pale monster but I think you're a green eyed one." He sniped back with his customary smirk back on his face.

"First of all-" I lightly swatted the back of his head. "you are not a monster, secondly, I am the pretty one in this family and no amount of whining on your part is going to change that." I smiled at him, glad to be comfortably immersed in our usual give and take insulting.

*****

Cal thought I was driving back to school right now, but it was worth missing my first class to see this through. It was highly doubtful my ancient history teacher, who was so old he had probably lived through the bubonic plague he had been rambling on about for the last few classes, could teach me anything I didn't know. So I was currently standing outside the high school going over the descriptions Cal had given to me when we eventually got around to talking about it. And by talking about it I mean me dragging every bit of information slowly out of him and by description I mean a few traits that gave me a crayon drawn shady portrait of the boys.

It was for his own good. For my own good too. It would be a lie to say that I wasn't going to enjoy this.

I heard someone call Eric's name and turned. Well, at least I wouldn't have to scour the school looking for them.

There were four boys, an overweight one, one who was about Cal's size, one who had the build of a football player, and the one who was walking toward them I assumed was Eric. Only one of them was his size, the rest were noticeably bigger. Eric and the football player were almost my size. My anger deepened. They were bigger than him and they all ganged up on him, too afraid to go after him individually.

Cowards.

I abruptly began to move in their direction, walking quickly and quietly. They were standing by the alley on the far side of the school making my job even easier. I came silently and invisibly so that they didn't notice me until I was on them. Then they definitely noticed me.

"Eric." I said is a harsh voice enjoying when they all jumped and realized there was another among them.

"What do you want?" Eric said, trying to look tough but obviously intimidated. He kept sending glances back at the other boys who were eyeing me up nervously. They could sense the predator in me. Good. I noticed that he had faint bruises under each eye, probably from a punch to the nose. I felt a flash of pride in Cal and a sick satisfaction to see he wasn't the only one with a mark. But this boy didn't have enough marks to satisfy me, and the others were completely unmarked… I could fix that for them.

"Have you seen a boy about this tall-" I held my hand up to my chest and indicated Cal's height. "with black chin length hair and grey eyes?" It was almost comical how all their faces shifted together through recognition and finally settled on fear.

"I think you do. Well, that boy is my younger brother and I am his overbearingly protective big brother." I let my face split in a vicious grin, something I had learned from my younger brother. Learning was a two way street after all.

"Nice to make your acquaintance."

I didn't waste any more time on words. I punched Eric in the face and kicked him behind the knees. I elbowed the short one roughly in the ribs and punched the football player under the chin. I was moving so quickly that they all fell to the ground before they realized what was going on.

The overweight one turned to run and I kicked him hard in the back forcing him to fall face first on the ground. The short one and the football player had stood up by this point and were backing away from me. I pursued with a speed they could never hope to come close to and pinned them both to the wall with my hands at their throats and lifted them to their toes.

"If you ever mark him again, if you ever touch him again, if you ever talk badly about him again, if you even look at him the wrong way again I will come after you and I will make you regret it." I whispered in a lethally calm voice. "And I will know, don't doubt it." I gave both boys another rough shove and smiled when their heads cracked against the brick wall. I dropped them and they crumpled to the ground, not so brave now that they were the ones getting pushed around. I glared at them with a darkly satisfied smile splitting my face before turning and stepping on the back of the portly one who was just beginning to stand. He grunted under my weight and collapsed back onto the ground. I delivered a perfunctory kick to Eric's ribs as I strolled out of the alley finally in a good mood.

They wouldn't hurt him again. They were too cowardly to even think it. My brother thought he was the dangerous one, but he was wrong. I would always protect him, whether it was against Grendels, high school assholes, or Sophia. As long as I was around I wouldn't let anyone touch him, and not even God could help those who tried.

I stepped into the beat up old truck I'd parked several parking lots down and glanced at the rearview mirror at Cal's high school in the distance.

I only wished that all of Cal's battles were this easy, and that I could fight those for him too. My sigh was drowned out by the sound of the truck screeching to life.

I would just have to settle for hurting all those who hurt him. I felt another wild smile tug at my lips, a common occurrence today it seemed. It was my right as overprotecting big brother after all. Anyone who wanted to get to him would have to deal with me, because I most certainly was going to deal with them.

It didn't matter that he was strong enough to fight his own battles. Cal was still my little brother and he always would be, and so would I always be at his back supporting him and in front of him protecting him. Just as I promised the both of us over fourteen years ago.

* * *

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